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Article: Iraq Sends Troops Into Sadr City; Large Deployment Aims to Restore Order in Shiite Area; Situation 'Calm'
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- May 21, 2008
- Author:
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Thousands of Iraqi soldiers entered the volatile Sadr City
district of eastern Baghdad on Tuesday, meeting virtually no
resistance from Shiite militiamen who in recent weeks have clashed
heavily with U.S. and Iraqi troops, Iraqi officials said.
The deployment, which began at dawn, was the first phase of Prime
Minister Nouri al-Maliki's long-awaited effort to restore order in
the vast Shiite area, a stronghold for loyalists of radical anti-
American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
Iraqi and U.S. officials described the effort, dubbed Operation
Peace, as led, planned and executed entirely by Iraqis. U.S.
soldiers, who operate from small outposts in Sadr City, did not play